SARAH ZAIFMAN

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SARAH ZAIFMAN Sarah Zaifman passed away at the age of 82 on April 25, 2004. Sarah was born in Poland in 1922, the daughter of Shlomo and Fagie Bojman. She was raised with her two sisters and brother in the town of Radom until 1940, when she was separated from her family and sent to work camps in Czetochwa and Skarziak. There she learned to sew, stitching together discarded gloves from the munitions factory into clothes to keep her fellow inmates warm. She was the only member of her family to survive the War and in 1949 she came to Canada with her husband Samuel. They settled in Winnipeg, obtaining employment in the garment industry. Their son was born in 1951 and in 1957, when Sarah was expecting a second child, her husband died suddenly at the age of 36. Sarah raised her two children working as a seamstress for over 20 years at Cliffords Ladies Wear on Selkirk Avenue. Sarah moved to Toronto in 1992, where she lived until her death. Sarah was part of a close community of Jewish holocaust survivors who immigrated to Canada settling in Winnipeg. They came with only the bags they could carry and a dream for a better life for themselves and their children. They, like Sarah, held a steadfast determination to give their children opportunities for education and accomplishment denied them. Sarah was known for her sense of humour, warm heart and kindness to friends and family, who regularly gathered at her kitchen table for coffee and companionship. Sarah passed through this life touching so many of us with her courage and sense of what was right, battling all obstacles with a smile and a kind word. Sarah Zaifman leaves behind her two children, Ken Zaifman and Sharon Kravitz, their spouses, Mira Thow and Les Kravitz and four grandchildren, Lea, Anna, Josh and Jake. Donations can be made to the Sarah Zaifman Fund, in care of The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, C400 - 123 Doncaster Street, Winnipeg, MB R3N 2B2, phone 477-7525, a fund established to further the objective that Canada remain a place of refuge and opportunity for immigrants.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 01, 2004